Chapter 26 – The Sorting Hat

The voice suddenly became clear, and the foggy cloud cleared up to the form of a ghost. “Merlin,” Harry gasped and the ghost began to speak to them.

“Welcome to the revival of Merlin House. I am very glad to have three heirs of mine joining this ceremony, as Merlin House can only exist with an heir of mine as Head of House. Please do your work Sorting Hat!”

The Sorting Hat revolved its pointed top a few times and began to talk.

“You all know me, so I will spare you my song,

I don’t want to ask you, I’ll tell you what’s wrong!

As Merlin has told you, there are five Houses at Hogwarts

and not only four – as you thought from long time onwards.

It’s not only Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw;

No, there is also our Merlin House you know.

But you think Merlin House is for whom?

We are all sorted – so what will you do?

I’ll tell you what I’d do with you.

In Merlin House, I want some of you too!

-----

Amelia Bones

Lily Evans

Stephanie Field

Alice French

George Graham

Fred Hampton

Remus Lupin

Stephen McKenzie

Otto Meyer

Alicia O’Brien

Harry Pane

John Ryan

Michael Smith

Severus Snape

Nathalie Spears

-----

You have until Christmas;

Think well and tell us:

What will you do?”

With this appeal, the Sorting Hat went silent and students and teachers applauded.

-----

Dumbledore rose from his seat and thanked the ghost of Merlin as well as the Sorting Hat and said, “Dear students, as you have heard, the hat has named fifteen of our number whom he would like to have in Merlin House. As you have already been sorted when you entered Hogwarts, you are not obliged to transfer to Merlin House, although I would appreciate it. But don’t forget, even if you change Houses now, you will still partly belong to your old House, for example regarding your participation in the Quidditch team, your Head of House, or your use of the common room. You still have all the rights you had before. Head of Merlin House will be me, but as I said, you should rely more on your old Head of House, because I am not always available. From the next school year onwards, there will be more students in Merlin House, and I hope that I will have a new Head of House for you, but that I cannot promise just yet.

“Please think it over carefully and tell either your Head of House or me your decision before Christmas holidays start. If you have any questions please come and see either Harry Pane as the youngest heir of Merlin or me, or our Head girl Lily Evans or our Head boy Severus Snape. Of course, you can also ask my wife, Minerva McGonagall-Dumbledore. They all know as much about Merlin House as I do and will be pleased to help you.” He clapped his hands twice, and food appeared on the tables. “Now, this was enough talk for tonight – please tuck in!”

Harry, who was still leaning against his mother, sat up straight and ate a little, while he thought about whom the Hat wanted into Merlin House. It didn’t seem to make so much sense to transfer 7th years, did it? How would Severus and Remus decide? Lily was supposed to do it, as she was an heir to Merlin and maybe… hopefully would accept the post of Head of Merlin House next summer. He was startled when Remus suddenly spoke to him.

“Harry, are you all right?” When Harry nodded, he went on, “Do you know what you are going to do? Will you transfer to Merlin House?”

“Yes. And you?”

“I don’t know; it’s a bit all of a sudden. Lily, will you transfer?”

Lily smiled at Harry and Remus and said, “Yes, I will.”

Suddenly Severus came over to them. “Harry, are you all right? Shall I take you back?”

“Yes please, Severus, thank you,” Harry said gratefully and stood up.

“I’ll accompany you too,” Lily said and rose as well.

While they slowly walked back to the Hospital Wing, Harry asked, “Severus, what are you going to do? Will you transfer to Merlin House with Lily and me?”

Lily glanced apprehensively at Severus. “It’s a difficult decision, but as it is only the last half year, why not? You know that I’m probably going to be Head of Slytherin next year, don’t you?”

“But that doesn’t matter. Even if you transfer now, you have spent more than six years in Slytherin, so you are more than qualified to be Head of Slytherin,” Lily argued. In the meantime, they had arrived at Harry’s room.

“Thank you, you two. Go back to dinner please, I’ll be fine,” Harry said and threw a small glance at his best friends.

“No, I will stay here; are you going back Lily?”

“No, let’s stay here and talk for a while. So do you think you will transfer Sev?”

“When my two best friends go, I’ll have to go as well, won’t I? And both of you have to go, because you are the heirs. So let’s go together!” He smiled softly at Lily.

After they had talked for another hour, Pomfrey came in, waved her wand over Harry twice and said, “Thank you very much for bringing Harry back; he must rest now. You may come back to see him tomorrow.”

“Wait a mument please. Lily, may I borrow your notes again? I have to hurry to catch up on everything. You know we have end of term tests in two weeks.”

Poppy raised her stern voice. “No Harry, you are not allowed to do any schoolwork as long as your concussion and your fever have not gone. And don’t ask me when that will be, because I don’t know.”

Lily and Severus left the room, Poppy fed Harry a few Potions, and Harry was asleep immediately.

Harry was finally allowed to return to classes (with the stern instructions ‘but only classes, no Quidditch or anything strenuous until after the holidays please’) a week before the start of the Christmas holidays, just on Monday morning as the end of term tests started. He was exempt from all tests because he had missed so many classes but could try to do them if he wished. On Saturday, Poppy had agreed for Lily to bring her notes, so that Harry could slowly start to catch up, and Harry had used the two days to read through the complete notes of six weeks’ classes. On Monday, they had tests in Transfiguration, a written test in the morning and a practical in the afternoon, and he had no problems with either part. After dinner, he met with Severus and Lily for an extra Potions tutoring lesson to study for the test, which was due on Friday.

At breakfast on Tuesday morning, a large brown barn owl flew down just between Harry and James. James took the letter and realized that the owl, which belonged to his parents, had brought another letter… for Harry. With a very surprised look, he handed the letter over and proceeded to read his own.

Harry was astonished too, but before he could risk a look at the letter, James cleared his throat and said, “My parents are inviting Harry, Lily, Severus and Remus for the Christmas holidays. Sirius is coming anyway, but would you like to come home with me?” He looked questioningly at the other Marauders.

“Wow, that’s cool,” Harry was the first to answer. “I would like that very much.” Inwardly he beamed, ‘I’m going to get to know my Grandparents, that’s so cool’.

Lily agreed. “I would like to go too; I hate my own home, so I already decided to stay here, but I’d like to come with you very much”.

Remus also agreed to go.

“That’s fine; now we only have to ask Severus. I hope he’ll come too,” James concluded.

“Oh look, we’re late; we have to go to Charms or we’ll miss our tests,” Sirius suddenly said and everyone left in a hurry.

Lily and Harry used the Potions tutoring lesson to ask Severus about the Christmas holidays, but Severus declined and said, “When you go, I will use the time to visit my mother, as I haven’t seen her for a whole year; I was only going to stay so that Harry would not be alone over the holidays.”

Harry didn’t have time to read his Grandfather’s letter until after curfew when he was back in his room.

Dear Harry, it said.

With Professor Dumbledore’s approval, I have told my wife about you and she would very much like to get to know you. Therefore, I have asked James to invite you and his other friends to our home over Christmas and we would appreciate it very much if you could come. We know that we cannot let anybody know of our connection, not even James, and we have also sent a letter to Professor Dumbledore and asked for his approval to have you here over the holidays.

Best regards from your (other) Grandparents, Harold and Luisa Potter

-----

At breakfast on Wednesday morning McGonagall came over and told them Dumbledore would like to see James, Remus, Lily and Harry straight after their Care Of Magical Creatures test in the afternoon. When they entered the Headmaster’s Office, McGonagall was there as well. Dumbledore was the first to speak.

“I have received a letter from the Potters, James parents. They are inviting all of you to visit them over Christmas. Severus has already declined because he wants to go home for a week and research a Potion for Harry during the second week. So I would like to ask Lily, Remus and Harry if they want to go home with James.”

The three glanced at each other for a mument, before Remus said, “We have already talked about it, and we all would like to go.”

Harry noticed that McGonagall had a very disapproving look on her face and was just wondering what could be wrong with going to the Potters, when she said, “Lily and Remus, you may go, but please tell your parents about it. With regard to Harry, I have spoken to Madam Pomfrey and she told me that she cannot give her approval at the mument, because he has not fully recovered yet. She told me to ask her again on Friday evening.”

Harry groaned. Would he finally have to stay at Hogwarts alone without his friends?

“On the other hand I know the Potters very well and I am sure that they will be able to look after Harry, so I will try to convince Poppy, but I cannot promise anything,” Dumbledore said in a calming voice.

Harry was on the verge of tears and quickly left the room without another word. He went straight up to Merlin House, plopped on a sofa in the common room and tried to concentrate on the notes for his tests in Herbology and DADA. He didn’t even bother to go back in time for dinner and went straight to his Potions tutoring. When he returned to his own room just before curfew, Madam Pomfrey was very angry with him for missing dinner and gave him a nutrient Potion, but he couldn’t care less.

-----

On Friday morning, the Marauders were discussing the upcoming holidays. The Hogwarts express was leaving on Saturday morning and from Kings Cross they intended to take a Portkey to Potter Manor.

“On Tuesday we’ll have the full moon,” Remus said, “are we going to do something?”

“We can spend the night in the park if you want, however we have to tell my parents about it, if we spend the night outside.”

“I hope they let me go with you, I don’t want to stay here all alone,” Harry whined.

“Oh Harry, I hope Pomfrey lets you go; maybe Dumbledore will be able to convince her,” Lily said worriedly.

James added, “Last night I received a letter from my parents and they promised to write to Dumbledore that they of course would look after Harry if he was ill, and so maybe we still have hope.”

Suddenly Harry looked at his watch and panicked. “Oh Lily, come on, we have our Potions test now. If we don’t hurry, we’ll be late.”

James threw him an astonished glance. “Harry, don’t panic. You can flash yourself and Lily to the dungeons, then you will have lots of time.”

“Ah, all right, James, thanks. I didn’t think about that,” Harry said gratefully and transformed into Icicle, and as soon as Lily had grabbed his tail feathers, they were gone in a flash. When he changed back, he noticed that his headache was back full force and remembered that he was not supposed to transform for a while. He slipped into his seat next to Severus and asked him, “Have you by any chance a Headache Potion with you?”

Severus glanced at him and shook his head. “No, why? If it is still so bad, you shouldn’t be here. Go and see the dragon, otherwise you will only make yourself worse.”

Harry shook his head almost unnoticeably and tried to prepare himself for the coming test. Fortunately, it was the same as with the Transfiguration test: just a written test in the morning and the practical in the afternoon, and thanks to Severus’ tutoring and Lily’s notes he didn’t have a problem with the written test. But how could he brew a Potion with this horrible headache? He could go to the Chamber and brew a Potion, but he dare not skip lunch, because he needed Poppy in a good mood in the evening and not angry in order to being allowed to visit the Potters. And he couldn’t go to Poppy for a Headache Potion because she would just keep him there, and he didn’t want to miss the final test.

So he went to lunch instead, and fortunately the others were very excited about the upcoming holidays and didn’t notice that he was only playing with the food on his plate. Soon they were back to the dungeons.

“Harry, what’s wrong with you?” Lily whispered to him.

“I shouldn’t have transformed this morning; since then I’ve a terrible headache,” he whispered back.

Lily was alarmed. “Oh, I hope you will be able to come with us tomorrow.”

Harry only shrugged. At this mument, Slughorn arrived and opened the classroom door. Harry sat on his usual seat and waited… where was Severus? He was never late. Slughorn was just waving his wand for the name of the Potion to appear on the blackboard, when Severus finally arrived and slipped into the seat next to Harry. Under the table, he handed something to Harry, who glanced at him enquiringly. “A Headache Potion; you still need it, don’t you?” Severus whispered.

“Yes, of course, thank you Severus,” Harry answered and quickly gulped the Potion down. He still didn’t feel well but a lot better.

“I just made it down in the Chamber,” Severus whispered back.

“Now start your Potions and no more talking please,” Slughorn said and ended their talk. Thanks to Severus’ Potion, Harry was lucid enough to brew a nearly flawless Potion. The colour was a slightly different blue, maybe a touch lighter than Severus’, but still a very similar colour, so he had surely managed to brew a Potion worthy of an E if not better.

-----

At dinner, Dumbledore announced that all students whom the Sorting Hat had suggested for the transfer to Merlin House had accepted. So there would be fifteen students in the House. Dumbledore named Harry, Remus and Amelia Bones, who was a 6th year student, as prefects. Lily and Severus would be prefects too, as they were Head girl and Head boy. Dumbledore told them they would stay in their new House from the day when they returned from Christmas holidays. The Merlin emblem was in white and gold with a white – green ice phoenix like Icicle on it, but of course, the students wouldn’t have to buy new robes, as he would transfigure their old ones after their return.

Suddenly James asked, “Have Dumbledore or McGonagall already talked to you about the holidays? How do we know if you’re allowed to come with us? Do we have to go and see Dumbledore again?”

“I have no idea. Probably I have to go to the dragon and ask her, but if we can convince Dumbledore otherwise, it would be better,” Harry answered.

Lily added, “I don’t think it would be good if Harry had to go for a check-up, he isn’t well today. He transformed this morning into his phoenix form although he shouldn’t have, he simply forgot, so…”

“Alright, then let’s go to Dumbledore and try to convince him,” Sirius said forcefully. As soon as dinner was finished, the five friends climbed up the stairs to the Gargoyle, which after a lot of guessing opened on ‘winter holidays’.

Dumbledore greeted them and offered each a lemon drop, before he said, “I hope you are not here to pester me about Harry, because that’s not for me to decide but for Madam Pomfrey.”

Harry contradicted immediately, “Why Granddad? I mean… you’re the Headmaster here, AND my Granddad, if anyone should be able to decide then it would be you.”

Dumbledore sighed and asked, “Harry, tell me, what is the problem? Do you think that you are well enough? If yes, why are you so afraid of Poppy’s decision? If not, then it would be better to stay here.”

Lily answered for Harry and told her Grandfather what the problem was. He sighed and said, “Alright, you go to Poppy and ask her, Harry; take all your friends with you. And if she says no, I will talk to her later and try to convince her.”

With this, they were dismissed and Harry’s friends dragged him up to Pomfrey. She motioned for Harry to lie down on his bed and waved her wand over him several times. Finally she said disbelievingly, “Harry, what have you done today to make yourself so much worse than you were in the morning?”

Harry burst into tears immediately and Lily answered for him and told that he had in panic forgotten that he shouldn’t transform. Poppy shook her head in exasperation and said, “I’m sorry, but I cannot allow him to leave for the holidays; he has to stay here.”